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[herrerik]

Hi!
Im making a castle-builder / strategy game similar to stronghold and they are billions.
The style is topdown drawning (see pic).
Now tiles are pretty small (20x20 pixels). Is this too small to make units visible? (max one unit per tile)
I need at least these types of units:
spearman
axeman
swordman
archer
crossbowman

Is it possible to convey which unit is which in this small format?
https://pasteboard.co/JXSPrbN.png

[Foxwarrior]

Swords, spears, axes, bows, and crossbows are all pretty different shapes from each other, I think the biggest thing holding you back is that you're devoting too much space to the human. Try drawing like, a tiny person holding a bow that fills the entire tile.

[herrerik]

yeah thats a first try for a worker (so that unit holds no weapon).

But i get your point. I will animate them as well and that might help. And a can add stuff like the swordman has a shield but the axeman doesnt. But 20x20 pixels is pretty small But that also helps keeping the look "map-like". I cannot make realistic looking units anyway (lack of art-skill)...

[Ramos]

Stronghold in top-down?
Sounds like an interesting project, please consider starting a development blog for it.

20x20 tiles are indeed very small, I use for my game 44x44, but then again it all comes down to how much details you want

[miroz]

I'm struggling with the same problem, I have 32x32 character and it's hard to show anything. If your engine allows, have weapons stick out of the player tile. And since you can't show details on the character, you can add some exaggerated movements instead to add some fidelity. Check my devlog for examples.
I hope you can make it work, I'd love to see the details.